


Sherlock Denying The Devil

by Tendergingergirl



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 19:38:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17494046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tendergingergirl/pseuds/Tendergingergirl
Summary: November 24, 2016Antlers, a Man, and a Violin. During the brief conversation between Mrs. Hudson and Sherlock, these words triggered a memory of an image. When you look up those words together, you get the image I found. My meta looks into it's meaning, and how it relates to Sherlock Holmes.





	Sherlock Denying The Devil

The violin has been associated with Satan in Western culture for generations (think of the rock song “The Devil went down to Georgia”), but the “devil as fiddler” motif has evolved in stages over the past two millennia-religions, folk tales, and literature all merge to produce a central myth….with the emergence of the violin in mid-16th Century Europe it rapidly became the chosen instrument, particularly among peasant performers for dances, weddings, and other exuberant entertainments, enormously popular due to its portability, loud tone, and tunability. The Protestant Reformation likely had the largest impact on the translation of the violin/fiddle to the instrument of the devil, with a general degradation of worldly pleasures as sinful…The Golden Age of the Devil as Fiddler/Violinist was certainly the 17th,18th, and 19th Centuries. A robust literature emerges examples of which include Anthony Woods biography describing the German violinist Thomas Baltazar’s performances as demonically inspired, the 18th Century claims of violinist Giuseppe Tartini to having made a pact with the Devil , the Opera Un Violon du Diable (1849), Benjamin Webster’s “The Devil’s Violin” (1849), and most notably, the rumor and widespread belief that the only explanation for Nicolo Paganini’s otherworldly violin abilities and technique were a Faustian bargain..”                                           

The story behind “Devil’s Trill” starts with a dream. Tartini allegedly told the French astronomer Jérôme Lalande that he dreamed that The Devil appeared to him and asked to be his servant. At the end of their lessons Tartini handed the devil his violin to test his skill—the devil immediately began to play with such virtuosity that Tartini felt his breath taken away. When the composer awoke he immediately jotted down the sonata, desperately trying to recapture what he had heard in the dream. Despite the sonata being successful with his audiences, Tartini lamented that the piece was still far from what he had heard in his dream. What he had written was, in his own words: “so inferior to what I had heard, that if I could have subsisted on other means, I would have broken my violin and abandoned music forever." 

There have been several pulblications written on the subject of the workings of the mind in dreams, that have linked Holmes & Tartini, including House: **[The Wounded Healer on Television: Jungian and Post-Jungian Reflections](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FHouse-Wounded-Television-Post-Jungian-Reflections%2Fdp%2F0415479134&t=NGFmOTk1ZmE3MjVhMzdkYzk5OTgwMzBmOTdiMTg0OWQ1NzUzMjA0YyxiWTNGb1dqQw%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153617511041%2Fsherlock-denying-the-devil&m=1). **

Read also **[Wounded_healer](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWounded_healer&t=ZDEwN2NlODZiZmViMTczYTM2NzRlYjJjYTgzZTkwMDVlNzZkZDdlMCxiWTNGb1dqQw%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153617511041%2Fsherlock-denying-the-devil&m=1)** from Wiki.

We all know how Sherlock feels about stuffy, old religion, per his best Man’s speech:

**“ _…and contrast is after all God’s own plan to enhance the beauty of His creation. Or it would be if God were not a ludicrous fantasy designed to provide a career opportunity for the family idiot!_ ″** 

This is not to say he does not hold to some bit of Spirituality or Hope:

_**“What a lovely thing a rose is. There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion. It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again we have much to hope for from the flowers.”**_   The Adventure of the Naval Treaty

Sherlock remains hopeful, always. He is the [**Dreamer**](http://tendergingergirl.tumblr.com/post/153502865311/sherlock-as-pierrot). So who is the Devil? John Watson knows. He as much as called him one.

## “ _Professor, if you wouldn’t mind stepping away from my friend, I do believe he finds your attention a **shade** annoying." _

##  _In literature and poetry, a shade (translating Greek σκιά, Latin umbra..umqra?) can be taken to mean the spirit or ghost of a dead person, residing in the underworld._ n

##  **What do devil dreams mean?**

A dream about Satan, the Devil or a demon may represent a negative aspect of yourself or your Shadow – the aspects of yourself that you deny or you are unaware of; or may represent a negative viewpoint – you may be evaluating a situation or problem and the devil dream is offering you the negative perspective; may suggest that your recent thoughts or actions are giving you a guilty conscience.  

“Why did you bring me here, Sherlock?”

To dream of the devil in disguise may suggest that you are being untrue to yourself or you may be lying to others; or it may be that someone you know is lying to you or is not really who they appear to be.

@hubblegleeflower makes a compelling case for Sherlock indeed making a [bargain-with-the-devil](http://hubblegleeflower.tumblr.com/post/149709276493/sherlocks-bargain-with-the-devil), in order to save his friends. Yet, even as Sherlock does this, he still struggles to allow himself to believe in something so horrific.  _“There never was any monster. There are no ghosts!”_

People will do what they will. They are responsible for their own actions. People are capable of evil, without any Supernatural help. Sherlock is not drawn to Evil, but to a desire to understand, even at a danger to himself. He is drawn to Good. He needs it in his life, and he knows it. John, his Sun, Lestrade, his mentor and Mrs. Hudson, his soft under belly. And his violin.

_"Sherlock, I wish you could have worn the antlers.”_ Mrs. Hudson.

He would not play the violin, if he considered it Evil. It is of the Angels. Where he cannot speak, it speaks for him. So perhaps, given Sherlock’s big, beautiful brain, his musical training, and his love of Victoriana, he simply would not wish to evoke such an image. As he himself replied, “Some things are best left to the imagination, Mrs. Hudson.”

[source](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.violinist.com%2Fblog%2Fmariog90%2F200810%2F9155%2F&t=NzczN2Q1MmYzODg1MTNiNDZjZWM0MTc4YjRjY2ZlZGM5NWQ3OWFhMyxiWTNGb1dqQw%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153617511041%2Fsherlock-denying-the-devil&m=1) [source](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lightforcenetwork.com%2Fglorious-bastard%2Ftartinis-pact&t=ZmIxZThlZDc2NzhhZjlmMDU4YWI3NGY1NzkxMWI3ZTY4NGRkNWQxMCxiWTNGb1dqQw%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153617511041%2Fsherlock-denying-the-devil&m=1)

## Fun short story:[ Charlie Daniels and Sherlock Holmes ](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sherlockpeoria.net%2FAaaView%2FView2010%2FViewSP112810.html&t=NWRhZjc3MmEzMjI2ZTEzNzYzYjk4ODhkMmJiNjY4YWY4MmRkNjcyMyxiWTNGb1dqQw%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153617511041%2Fsherlock-denying-the-devil&m=1)

[https://soundcloud.com/biggie-4/charlie-daniels-band-the-devil](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fbiggie-4%2Fcharlie-daniels-band-the-devil&t=YTcwODU2YThkMjE0ZDkwNjZhMGMzZDVhODRlZTg0N2VhMDI2NWYzOCxiWTNGb1dqQw%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153617511041%2Fsherlock-denying-the-devil&m=1)

[https://soundcloud.com/fu-fu/tartini-the-devils-trill-03](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Ffu-fu%2Ftartini-the-devils-trill-03&t=YjdkYTIxZGFmNWQ2MzI4Y2M1YzBiYmE4ODIwODI3MGZjMTk4OWMzZSxiWTNGb1dqQw%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153617511041%2Fsherlock-denying-the-devil&m=1)

Thxs [https://www.planetclaire.tv/quo](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.planetclaire.tv%2Fquotes%2Fsherlock%2Fseries-three%2Fthe-sign-of-three%2F&t=NDhiNWE2N2UxODJhM2UxZjM1ZmM3MmM4YTA2Nzk1MDBlZmVkYTRlMixiWTNGb1dqQw%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153617511041%2Fsherlock-denying-the-devil&m=1)tes 

_Here’s to S4 & one last dance with the devil._

 

* * *

 

Summer 2018: And then, they did this…

 


End file.
